What percentage of Americans use public transit?

According to Statista Consumer Insights, 73 percent of American commuters use their own car to move between home and work, making it by far the most popular mode of transportation. Meanwhile, only 13 percent of the 7,649 respondents use public transportation while 11 percent ride their bike.



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54% of households in New York City do not own a car, and rely on public transportation.

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The vast majority of passenger travel in the United States occurs by automobile for shorter distances and airplane or railroad for longer distances.

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The data collected show that the largest market for public transport is China, with 85 billion total journeys in 2015.

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According to Statista Consumer Insights, 73 percent of American commuters use their own car to move between home and work, making it by far the most popular mode of transportation. Meanwhile, only 13 percent of the 7,649 respondents use public transportation while 11 percent ride their bike.

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Not only is the New York City public transportation system the most extensive in the country, but it's also one of the few that operates all night long. Both subway trains and bus services run 24/7.

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“New York is doing well because of its comprehensive subway network that operates 24 hours and the fact that trains go to Long Island and New Jersey,” said Jasper de Lange, transportation project manager at Arcadis. “It also scores high in the amount of people who are using public transit compared to a car to commute.”

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And our surprise winner *drumroll* – Porto Alegre, Brazil. Not only does every kilometre travelled on public transport (options are metro, bus & microbus) in Porto Alegre take less than 4 minutes, but that's also about as fast as driving according to our data.

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Most American passenger trains travel on tracks that are owned by freight companies. That means most trains have to defer to freight services, leading to lengthy delays that scare off passengers who want to arrive on time. Domestic air travel in America is widely available, relatively cheap and popular.

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The APTA's study – The Hidden Traffic Safety Solution: Public Transportation, concludes that public transit is essentially over 10 times safer than traveling by any other means of individual transport such as a car.

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Arlington, Texas, is the largest city in the United States without a mass transportation system.

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Traveling by public transportation is 10 times safer per mile than traveling by automobile. A person can reduce his or her chance of being in an accident by more than 90% simply by taking public transit as opposed to commuting by car.

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Overall, the United States ranked second behind Singapore, but it falls somewhat behind when it comes to transportation and utility infrastructure. On transportation, the forum's score takes into account eight measures, rating the United States No. 12 globally.

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In general, subways and metros are an affordable way to travel in American cities. Some rapid transit systems charge a flat fee, while others may charge by distance or time of day.

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